The tribe of Clallams, as they are usually called by the residents of Washington Territory by the neighboring Indians named S'klal´am, and denominated by themselves N[=u]s klái y[=u]m inhabit the southern shore of Fuca Strait, from about the Ok[)e]ho River on the west, to Port Townshend on the east, bordering in the first direction on the Makahs, sometimes called Classets (the Klaizzart of Jewitt), a tribe of the Nootka family who inhabit Cape Flattery, and in the other on the Chemakum, like themselves a branch of the Selish, though a yet more remote one. Their language is the same, with some dialectic differences only, as that of the Songhus and Sokes of Vancouver Island opposite. It is this which has been referred to by Drs. Scouler and Latham as the "Nusdalum," undoubtedly, in the first instance, a misprint.

The Clallam differs materially from the other Selish languages of the Puget Sound country, though less from the Lummi than the rest. Its noticeable feature is the frequent occurrence of the nasal ng .

The Lummi tribe live on the lower part of a river heading in the Cascade Range, north east of Mount Baker, and emptying by two mouths, one into Bellingham Bay, the other into the Gulf of Georgia, the upper waters of which are inhabited by the Nook sahks (N[=u]k sák). They are, however, intruders here, their former country having been a part of the group of islands between the continent and Vancouver Island, to which they still occasionally resort. Their own name is N[=u]kh´lum mi. The Skagits call them N[=u]kh lésh, and some of the other tribes Há lum mi. Their dialectic affinities are rather with the Sannitch of the south eastern end of Vancouver Island than with any of the Indians of the main land, and the two probably at one period formed a single tribe, which more remotely was connected with the Clallams and Songhus. The Simiahmoo (Si mi á mu), a small remnant, living on the bay of that name, north of them, belong likewise to this group. On the south the Lummi adjoin the Samish and other bands of the Skagits, who in language approach the Nisquallies.

Like the Clallam, their language abounds with the nasal ng , both as a prefix and a termination. It has another peculiarity, in great measure its own, in the broad sound of the letter a , somewhat as in the words mass , pass , but even more prolonged. I have distinguished this in the vocabulary by the italic. The letters f , r , v , z , are wanting in both languages.

The Clallam and Lummi, as will be observed, contain three classes of cardinals, which I have distinguished as simple , personal , and of valuation , although these terms are not strictly accurate; certain objects, besides men, being counted by the second, and others, as well as money, by the third; I have never fully ascertained the distinctions which govern their use... Continue reading book >>